June 15, 2026 • 9 mins
Labour's trade spokesman and former Minister of Agriculture comments on the upside for world trade if peace breaks out permanently in the Middle East. Plus, we ask where Labour's ag policy is and why Labour's two main election policy platforms (CGT and Public Transport) are so poorly targeted.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Damian O'Connor is Labour's trade spokesperson. I missed them atfield days, Damien.
You didn't even bother visiting me at the farmland site.
I was looking forward to a fight or an argument
with you.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Cure, Jamie.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I actually I did see you a text saying I
was happy to come on. You didn't tell me where
you were or send an invitation. So I didn't want
to impose on you because on knew. I thought you'd
just want of people who were nodding their heads and
being nice to you. You didn't want to decent argue.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Well, I had Chippy on. That was probably enough labor
for me. Look to be honest, i'd like to have
Joe Luxton on. But you've got no egg policy. You've
banged on the hang on, hang on, Damien, you've banged
on no, no, no, hang on. I'm just turning your
fader down. You can't come over the top of me.
You've banged on about releasing some policy after the budget.
(00:47):
Where is it?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, we had a public transport.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Is gonna egg policy?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Egg policy, Jamie. We're just following the National Party. All
they said is they're not going to do anything and
they'll take everything away, which was their policy leading up
for the last election. We'll just we will be releasing
some ad policy, will be carefully considering it. I was
down today just listening to some of the parts of
the Collective Catchment Collective Forum that's in Parliament here. Most
(01:17):
of the money that they have been relying on train
from the actually last labor government has been a little
bit drilled out to them from this current government. But
they actually wondering where to go next, and it is
a great initiative. I think we set up two hundred
off the catchment groups, good way forward, but now they
don't have money. But to be fair, you know, the
government's been splashing around a bit of money to darien Z,
(01:40):
to PAMU, to you know, to help with the Halter
and other places.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Zesprey. Actually, I would have thought that.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
They all had quite a bit of money at the
moment and the money would have been better spent back
towards the catchment groups helping them go forward. But anyway,
that's that's the coalition government for you.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So do you disagree with the government doubling the funding
of the Kiwi two National Trust.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
No, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
I think that's good money, that's great, but it's a
bit confusing when on one end they seem to be
going in reverse when it comes to environmental policies and
then stepping up there.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I think it's great if that.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Happens, and I think they need to send a clearer
message to other farmers that actually, we do need to
ensure that NAT levels don't continue to rise in Canterory,
in Southend and other parts of the country. We do
need to protect biodiversity on farms, and we do need
to sell our story across the globe and ensure that
what we say on the label is what we do
(02:40):
on the farm.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Damon, you're talking about the government coming in and taking
things away. To me, that's a euphanism for getting rid
of the roadblocks that you and David park are bott
in place.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Actually, we were trying to send some clear guidelines and
some bottom lines around water quality.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Way On, David Parker was going to get rid of
twenty percent. Parker was going to David Parker was going
to get rid of twenty percent of the sheep and
beef farms in this country.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Bullshit, Jamie. That is not correct at all, and that's
what National have been saying, and you repeat it quite incorrectly.
It was going to affect the profitability of twenty percent
of the farmers. But that was before any alternative land
use or changes of the systems were considered. Look, we
accepted that some of the details around some of the
(03:28):
you know, grazing stuff, we got wrong. We adjusted that Actually,
the messages that the market is still sending back to
us in this country means that.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
We do have to get on address some of those issues.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Let's play nicely for a moment here, Damien, you are
Labour's trades No, No, you are labours trades spokesperson. I
give credit where credits, Jill, I think you've done a
good job, or you've got a good background in trade.
This conflict in the Middle East, if peace permanently breaks out,
that's a real upside, I would think for world trade,
(04:00):
in the world economy.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
It absolutely is, And it's been really really challenging for
the whole globe and will and planet and trade and
every industry in it fuels at the still at the
heart of what we do economically. It won't stabilize overnight.
I think everyone will be wary of the interventions like
these these are ad hoc interventions.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
You know, the US would always accuse other people of
doing that.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
It's been prepared to do things which we would have
considered absolutely outrageous and crazy. Bombing out of countries is
not the smart way forward, and hopefully peace will enable
a bit of a reset, but it won't be back
to where it was. Organizations like the World Trade Organization
will continue to struggle for relevance.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
We will always support them.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
It's the only way forward, but as long as big
countries set back from it, in the US being right
at the forefront of that then makes international trade and
rules of trade very very challenging for my sins.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I follow you on Facebook, and I don't follow many
people on Facebook. I'm not really into social media. How
do you get away posting some of the stuff you
do about Israel and Gaza?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
But it's the truth.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
It's outrageous what is going on there, and if anyone
looks at at what Israel has been doing both Levanon
and Gaza, it is in humane and we've thrown our
arms up in horror in the past when we've observed
those things happening in other countries on our doorstep, in
front of us almost in real time, and people have
(05:36):
spent on their hands. We will look back at this
period of history and say, how do we allow.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
This to happen?
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Indeed, it's the unstitching of civilization in the international rules
of justice?
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Can you post like that if you become a minister
of the crown.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
I am reposting what other people are putting up there
and this is not there. This is against the ideaf
and who and what he is doing. Of course, Sada
Israel has the right to exist in Jewish people that
are amazing. I've met no many of them good friends,
but they have been discredited by a megalomaniac who's running
(06:12):
a country that's out of control.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Why are Labour's two main election policy platforms that you've
come out with, Because you've come out with bugger all,
let's be honest about it, your capital gains tax policy
and last week your public transport policy. Why, Damien O'Connor,
are they so poorly targeted? Well, you and I don't
need three three doctors visits a year. And why are
(06:34):
we subsidizing wealthy Wellington bureaucrats to take the train to work?
What's in this for rural New Zealand for the productive sector.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
I guess on balance, wherever you roll out policy insight
this and you have thresholds, then there are people on
either side of the threshold who should or shouldn't get it.
You end up with a bureaucracy, people criticized the cost
of it, and in the end universal support for things
like public transport where you'll get less congestion on the
roads that'll be a result of it, less emissions that
(07:05):
will be a result of it, and more people getting
to work for less money. That is a very good outcome.
And yes, there might be people who are can afford
to pay more, if they indeed want to pay more.
I'm sure they can denote that, yes.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
But they don't worth Look, you have an IRD, you
have a community services card. You literally or the Inland
Revenue Department literally knows how much everyone's earning. Are same
with super inuitants. They're obviously taxed at the highest marginal
tax rate. Why don't you just target these It is
such a brain dead policy.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
There are many families out there, they won't have a
community services card.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
They're finding the cost of the huge.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
They're trying to cut down their costs and using public transport.
Capping that per week is a.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Very very good move for those families and.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
So it does cover. It covers all keywers in that
category in the cities and in regional New Zealand. It's
tapped at ten dollars. That's a great deal for many people.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Well there's no public transport and regional New Zealand. For
God's sake, Hey, just just just to finish on the
labor list came out. You're at sixteen, Joe Luxton's at seventeen.
Is that paying lip service to agriculture and trade?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
No, it doesn't matter where we'd be. You'll be criticizing
as it knows that it's a process. I'm grateful for
where I am. I'm sure Joe is as well. We'll
get on and do out that for agriculture for regional
New Zealand, so will all the people on the list
for New Zealanders.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
But isn't that a reflection isn't that symptomatic of where
labor sees agriculture. Todd McLay, for instance, is on the
front bench for National.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Can I say that, actually, you know, we have a
different approach. We are saying that all New Zealanders are
our focus as a government, not just one particular sector.
And while agriculture is very important, so to all the
other sectors transport, health, education, those of the sectors that
make up a society and we have to support all
(09:06):
society to have a decent country to live in.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Damian O'Connor always got to have a yarn slash argument
on the country. Appreciate your time
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Peace, Jenny Kira
Damian O'Connor is Labour's trade spokesperson. I missed them atfield days, Damien.
You didn't even bother visiting me at the farmland site.
I was looking forward to a fight or an argument
with you.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Cure, Jamie.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I actually I did see you a text saying I
was happy to come on. You didn't tell me where
you were or send an invitation. So I didn't want
to impose on you because on knew. I thought you'd
just want of people who were nodding their heads and
being nice to you. You didn't want to decent argue.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Well, I had Chippy on. That was probably enough labor
for me. Look to be honest, i'd like to have
Joe Luxton on. But you've got no egg policy. You've
banged on the hang on, hang on, Damien, you've banged
on no, no, no, hang on. I'm just turning your
fader down. You can't come over the top of me.
You've banged on about releasing some policy after the budget.
(00:47):
Where is it?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, we had a public transport.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Is gonna egg policy?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Egg policy, Jamie. We're just following the National Party. All
they said is they're not going to do anything and
they'll take everything away, which was their policy leading up
for the last election. We'll just we will be releasing
some ad policy, will be carefully considering it. I was
down today just listening to some of the parts of
the Collective Catchment Collective Forum that's in Parliament here. Most
(01:17):
of the money that they have been relying on train
from the actually last labor government has been a little
bit drilled out to them from this current government. But
they actually wondering where to go next, and it is
a great initiative. I think we set up two hundred
off the catchment groups, good way forward, but now they
don't have money. But to be fair, you know, the
government's been splashing around a bit of money to darien Z,
(01:40):
to PAMU, to you know, to help with the Halter
and other places.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Zesprey. Actually, I would have thought that.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
They all had quite a bit of money at the
moment and the money would have been better spent back
towards the catchment groups helping them go forward. But anyway,
that's that's the coalition government for you.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So do you disagree with the government doubling the funding
of the Kiwi two National Trust.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
No, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
I think that's good money, that's great, but it's a
bit confusing when on one end they seem to be
going in reverse when it comes to environmental policies and
then stepping up there.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I think it's great if that.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Happens, and I think they need to send a clearer
message to other farmers that actually, we do need to
ensure that NAT levels don't continue to rise in Canterory,
in Southend and other parts of the country. We do
need to protect biodiversity on farms, and we do need
to sell our story across the globe and ensure that
what we say on the label is what we do
(02:40):
on the farm.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Damon, you're talking about the government coming in and taking
things away. To me, that's a euphanism for getting rid
of the roadblocks that you and David park are bott
in place.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Actually, we were trying to send some clear guidelines and
some bottom lines around water quality.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Way On, David Parker was going to get rid of
twenty percent. Parker was going to David Parker was going
to get rid of twenty percent of the sheep and
beef farms in this country.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Bullshit, Jamie. That is not correct at all, and that's
what National have been saying, and you repeat it quite incorrectly.
It was going to affect the profitability of twenty percent
of the farmers. But that was before any alternative land
use or changes of the systems were considered. Look, we
accepted that some of the details around some of the
(03:28):
you know, grazing stuff, we got wrong. We adjusted that Actually,
the messages that the market is still sending back to
us in this country means that.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
We do have to get on address some of those issues.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Let's play nicely for a moment here, Damien, you are
Labour's trades No, No, you are labours trades spokesperson. I
give credit where credits, Jill, I think you've done a
good job, or you've got a good background in trade.
This conflict in the Middle East, if peace permanently breaks out,
that's a real upside, I would think for world trade,
(04:00):
in the world economy.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
It absolutely is, And it's been really really challenging for
the whole globe and will and planet and trade and
every industry in it fuels at the still at the
heart of what we do economically. It won't stabilize overnight.
I think everyone will be wary of the interventions like
these these are ad hoc interventions.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
You know, the US would always accuse other people of
doing that.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
It's been prepared to do things which we would have
considered absolutely outrageous and crazy. Bombing out of countries is
not the smart way forward, and hopefully peace will enable
a bit of a reset, but it won't be back
to where it was. Organizations like the World Trade Organization
will continue to struggle for relevance.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
We will always support them.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
It's the only way forward, but as long as big
countries set back from it, in the US being right
at the forefront of that then makes international trade and
rules of trade very very challenging for my sins.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I follow you on Facebook, and I don't follow many
people on Facebook. I'm not really into social media. How
do you get away posting some of the stuff you
do about Israel and Gaza?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
But it's the truth.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
It's outrageous what is going on there, and if anyone
looks at at what Israel has been doing both Levanon
and Gaza, it is in humane and we've thrown our
arms up in horror in the past when we've observed
those things happening in other countries on our doorstep, in
front of us almost in real time, and people have
(05:36):
spent on their hands. We will look back at this
period of history and say, how do we allow.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
This to happen?
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Indeed, it's the unstitching of civilization in the international rules
of justice?
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Can you post like that if you become a minister
of the crown.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
I am reposting what other people are putting up there
and this is not there. This is against the ideaf
and who and what he is doing. Of course, Sada
Israel has the right to exist in Jewish people that
are amazing. I've met no many of them good friends,
but they have been discredited by a megalomaniac who's running
(06:12):
a country that's out of control.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Why are Labour's two main election policy platforms that you've
come out with, Because you've come out with bugger all,
let's be honest about it, your capital gains tax policy
and last week your public transport policy. Why, Damien O'Connor,
are they so poorly targeted? Well, you and I don't
need three three doctors visits a year. And why are
(06:34):
we subsidizing wealthy Wellington bureaucrats to take the train to work?
What's in this for rural New Zealand for the productive sector.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
I guess on balance, wherever you roll out policy insight
this and you have thresholds, then there are people on
either side of the threshold who should or shouldn't get it.
You end up with a bureaucracy, people criticized the cost
of it, and in the end universal support for things
like public transport where you'll get less congestion on the
roads that'll be a result of it, less emissions that
(07:05):
will be a result of it, and more people getting
to work for less money. That is a very good outcome.
And yes, there might be people who are can afford
to pay more, if they indeed want to pay more.
I'm sure they can denote that, yes.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
But they don't worth Look, you have an IRD, you
have a community services card. You literally or the Inland
Revenue Department literally knows how much everyone's earning. Are same
with super inuitants. They're obviously taxed at the highest marginal
tax rate. Why don't you just target these It is
such a brain dead policy.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
There are many families out there, they won't have a
community services card.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
They're finding the cost of the huge.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
They're trying to cut down their costs and using public transport.
Capping that per week is a.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Very very good move for those families and.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
So it does cover. It covers all keywers in that
category in the cities and in regional New Zealand. It's
tapped at ten dollars. That's a great deal for many people.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Well there's no public transport and regional New Zealand. For
God's sake, Hey, just just just to finish on the
labor list came out. You're at sixteen, Joe Luxton's at seventeen.
Is that paying lip service to agriculture and trade?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
No, it doesn't matter where we'd be. You'll be criticizing
as it knows that it's a process. I'm grateful for
where I am. I'm sure Joe is as well. We'll
get on and do out that for agriculture for regional
New Zealand, so will all the people on the list
for New Zealanders.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
But isn't that a reflection isn't that symptomatic of where
labor sees agriculture. Todd McLay, for instance, is on the
front bench for National.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Can I say that, actually, you know, we have a
different approach. We are saying that all New Zealanders are
our focus as a government, not just one particular sector.
And while agriculture is very important, so to all the
other sectors transport, health, education, those of the sectors that
make up a society and we have to support all
(09:06):
society to have a decent country to live in.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Damian O'Connor always got to have a yarn slash argument
on the country. Appreciate your time
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Peace, Jenny Kira
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